Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 4.3 - Chapter 15

Buying Information and the Mana Compression Lecture

Upon my return to Ehrenfest via the teleportation circle, Charlotte was the first to run up to me. “Welcome home, Sister! I heard that you were first-in-class for the first-years. That’s amazing!” she exclaimed. Her praise sent me straight to heaven; hearing her call me amazing made literally everything I had gone through worth it.

“I’m home, Charlotte. I aim to be first-in-class next year as well,” I replied, eager to earn my little sister’s praise once again. I made sure to clench my fist as I made the declaration to emphasize the strength of my resolve.

Charlotte blinked in surprise; then she copied me and clenched her fist as well. “I, too, will aim to achieve first-in-class when I join the Academy next year. I am your little sister, after all.”

“Then we shall work together.”

We smiled at each other as we left the teleportation hall. Our attendants followed us out, as there were students waiting behind us to come over, but Wilfried and his retainers were still hanging around outside the door. Things soon got pretty cramped as a result.

“Wilfried, would you mind moving?” I asked. “We wish to return to our rooms.”

“Ah, sorry. Everyone, let’s get out of their way.”

Just as we all started to walk, however, there came an echoing cry from somewhat far away. “Rozemyyyne!” I recognized the voice at once—it was Bonifatius.

“Here!” I called back with my hand raised. I wasn’t sure whether he would even see that, considering that I was surrounded by people, but he found me soon enough regardless.

“I heard you were top of your class!” he gushed. “Good job! That’s my granddaughter for you!”

“Grandfather, I was also chosen as an honor student,” Cornelius noted.

“Oh, you too, Cornelius? My grandchildren sure are smart. Excellent. Hrah!” Bonifatius grunted as he plucked Cornelius from the group, spun him around, and then threw him up into the air.

“Guh?!”

I have to admire the amount of strength it must take to pick up and throw a man who’s almost come of age...

As I blinked in awe, two large hands slid under my arms. “You’re next, Rozemyne. Here, up you go!”

“Grandfather, no!” Cornelius shouted the very moment he landed on the ground, but it was too late—I was already in the air. The speed at which I, someone with the body of a child who had only recently had their baptism, and Cornelius, someone who had the body of an almost-adult man, were thrown couldn’t even be compared.

“GYAAAAAAAAAH!” I screamed.

“Wait, no!” Bonifatius let out a panicked shout, but there was nothing he could do—I was already mere moments away from crashing into the ceiling.

As everyone cried out, Cornelius alone leapt up, grabbed my cape, and pulled me back down. His quick use of enhancement magic had saved me from my collision course, but my cape was fastened around my throat; I could only gag as my airway was abruptly blocked.

I’m going to die!

To make matters worse, the direction of my momentum had suddenly changed, and now I was falling down toward Cornelius. I plummeted as though I were a silent meteor, no longer even able to speak.

“Ngh!”

I was caught by none other than Karstedt, who had returned to Ehrenfest ahead of time with Sylvester. He secured me in his arms, looked around to make sure that nobody else was hurt, and checked that I was simply dazed and not actually injured. He then entrusted me to Rihyarda before fixing Bonifatius with a stern glare.

“Father, why would you ever do that to Rozemyne?!” he barked.

My retainers were all gathered around me. They knew that Bonifatius’s actions were the result of his extreme (and evidently dangerous) love for me as his granddaughter, and so they responded only with harsh looks... but had he been anyone else, he would have been arrested on the spot for attempting to murder a member of the archducal family.

Bonifatius faltered with wavering eyes as he endured the reprimanding stares of all those around us; then he clapped his hands together in realization. “Well, er... You know... I was actually testing Cornelius to make sure he has what it takes to protect Rozemyne. He passed, of course. That’s my grandson for you!”

It was the worst attempt at damage control that I had ever seen.

Karstedt planted his feet firmly on the ground and crossed his arms. “Father, stay away from Rozemyne. You’re going to end up killing her one day,” he declared flatly, paying no mind to Bonifatius’s cry of disbelief that immediately followed. “Cornelius, you did good protecting Rozemyne from Father. Rozemyne, you weren’t even given a chance to recover from your teleportation sickness before you were tossed up into the air. You should spend today resting.”

“Yes, Father.”

The shock of the whole situation had rendered me unable to move, so Rihyarda carried me back to my room. It was strange having all of my retainers follow me around as they did in the Royal Academy, but they would henceforth be working even in the castle. Things were probably going to be a lot busier from now on.

“Welcome home, Lady Rozemyne,” Ottilie said once I was back in my room. She had prepared everything for my return, meaning I could climb straight into my already made bed. I rolled onto my side as soon as I was under the covers; my head was still spinning from my impromptu flight, and I was still feeling uncomfortably queasy.

Somebody please teach Grandfather to control himself.

My retainers had their own luggage to deal with, so they all dispersed shortly after introducing themselves. Their jobs in the castle would be explained to them tomorrow.

Damuel would take the lead when it came to dividing work among my guards, while Rihyarda and Ottilie were due to teach my apprentice retainers what they would be expected to do in the castle. I was going to be attending a meeting with the archduke alongside my apprentice scholars that afternoon, so Hartmut was currently receiving an explanation on how we sorted out this information.

“Previously, we sorted the information like so and purchased what we needed from those who gathered information in the Royal Academy. We expect the same higher-ups of the knights and scholars to be attending this time as well,” I said. Information would probably sell pretty nicely, considering that this year they would need all sorts of information as they headed into the Archduke Conference.

As Hartmut was sorting through the information, I turned to Philine. “We will also need to arrange compensation for those in the dormitory who did transcribing work for us. Do you have a list of who transcribed what, as well as how much ink and paper they used?”

“Yes. It is all detailed on this sheet here.”

“Thank you. I will have you calculate the fees, then. We will need to ask Ferdinand to prepare the payment for us.” I started teaching Philine how to calculate the fees for each of the transcribed books. A look at the list she had provided showed a lot of names not from Ehrenfest. “Did you make many friends in other duchies, Philine?”

“The sum you offered for transcribing books is higher than usual, Lady Rozemyne, so students from other duchies wanted to participate too. I simply arranged the work for them.”

“I taught Philine how to make a profit by charging a referral fee for the transcribing work,” Hartmut said. He may have been an archnoble, but he evidently had the skills of a natural-born merchant. It seemed that Philine had made quite a considerable amount of money too; she couldn’t help but smile as she informed me that she might have saved just enough to learn the mana compression method.

It was afternoon by the time all the information was sorted out, and we were due to negotiate with the higher-ups. I couldn’t just bring all of my retainers along, so I chose a select few: Rihyarda and Brunhilde as attendants; Hartmut and Philine as scholars; and Damuel, Angelica, and Cornelius as guard knights. Judithe and Leonore were going to be spending the afternoon training with Bonifatius.

“When will I get to guard Lady Rozemyne?!” Judithe cried out, her violet eyes wet with tears. She had spent the entire term in the Royal Academy off duty, and now she was having to wait even longer. Unfortunately, there was no helping it.

“Bonifatius’s training is important for the guard knights of all members of the archducal family. Give it your all,” Damuel said. Whether his intention was to console or encourage her, I couldn’t quite tell.

After seeing Judithe and Leonore off to the training grounds, I climbed into Lessy and drove to a meeting room near the archduke’s office. Wilfried and his retainers had also been summoned so that they could provide information on the time I was absent.

“Alright,” Sylvester began, “how about you tell me what you all learned in the Royal Academy this year?”

The scholars who had gathered information described the changing trends, the newly invented magic tools, and the danger levels of several duchies. In turn, the higher-ups of the various specialties asked questions, noted down changes from last year, and discussed what was new.

Eventually, it came Hartmut’s turn to speak. “We have learned a bit about Ahrensbach’s internal situation through contacts made by the children of the former Veronica faction,” he said.

“We’ve what?!” Sylvester exclaimed, his eyes wide with surprise.

Ferdinand’s lips curved into an amused grin. “Due in part to your orders, students were staying clear of Ahrensbach in the Royal Academy. But when Lord Wilfried started to attend, I observed renewed closeness between students of our duchies, so I exploited the opportunity. Would you consider this treason to Ehrenfest?”

“No, we want as much of this information as we can get now that we’re keeping socializing to a minimum.”

With support from Ferdinand, Hartmut started to give his report. It seemed that Ahrensbach was a total mess internally at the moment.

“We put together everything we’ve learned and concluded that they have almost no archduke candidates suited to be the next archduke,” Hartmut said. “The mana of the family meant to support the archduke has decreased dramatically. Their provinces are likely suffering greatly as a result, though we do not know any specifics, since none of our sources were able to provide any details. One thing we know for sure, however, is that Ahrensbach has only two candidates suited to becoming the next archduke, one of whom is Lady Georgine’s youngest daughter, Lady Detlinde.”

This was news to Ehrenfest’s higher-ups; they all fell into thought, looking immensely shocked.

“Only two, you say? But what about the children of the former first and second wives? My older sister had three children too. How do they only have two candidates?”

“It may be for the same reason that their ranking is falling despite them being a greater duchy. At the moment, we do not know whether Lady Detlinde is approaching Lord Wilfried because he is of Ahrensbach blood and she seeks the archduke seat or because she is looking for a husband to wed and wishes to avoid the seat. Either way, we know that she is in quite a troubling predicament,” Hartmut said, concluding his report.

Ferdinand let out a long sigh and started rubbing his temples; then, he looked at Hartmut with great interest. “That was unexpected news. Excellent work. What would you say about coming to work for me?”

“Let me stop you there, Ferdinand—Hartmut is my scholar,” I interjected, promptly shutting down his ballsy attempt to take my retainer. “He’s going to serve as an important aide and will veritably shoulder the printing industry. Do not even think about taking him from me.”

Hartmut responded with a sensible chuckle of amusement. “That is a very appealing offer, Lord Ferdinand, but I’m afraid that I must decline. I need to stay by Lady Rozemyne’s side so that I can properly research her.”

Oh crap. Should I have let Ferdinand have him to save myself...?!

“You are researching Rozemyne?” Ferdinand asked, his brow furrowed. “She certainly is an amalgamation of notably bizarre peculiarities... but what exactly are you focusing on?”

There was a sparkle in Hartmut’s orange eyes as he responded. “Her way of granting blessings differs from what is normal. That is what I wish to research.”

“Hm. A fascinating research topic, to be sure. Come show me your results so I can see how far you have progressed.”

“As you wish. I was hoping to be granted the opportunity to ask you some questions, Lord Ferdinand, since you knew her during her temple days.”

Oh no, no, no, no. I feel as though a terrible alliance has just been formed.

I decided to put aside the weirdos being weird and focus on the matter at hand. Each piece of information gathered at the Royal Academy was assigned an appropriate value, and this value determined how much each information gatherer was paid.

“Ferdinand, I would also like to compensate those who have transcribed books for me,” I said. “Please put aside a portion of my budget for these payments.”

“That will not be a problem, but why so soon? Could they not be paid at a later date?”

“I instructed the students who wish to learn my compression method to earn their own money. It is for this reason that I will need to pay them before my lecture begins.” I went on to explain how an archnoble had complained to me about having to earn his own money, which Ferdinand responded to with exasperation—but he didn’t criticize my decision. “By the way, have you decided who shall be taught my compression method yet?”

“Yes. We have already contacted those who have been granted permission.”

As it turned out, we would be teaching Wilfried, the archducal family’s retainers—including my new retainers—and the giebe houses related to my family. That meant Bonifatius, the Leisegangs, the Haldenzels, and Traugott. Not everyone was pleased about Traugott being included, but I had made a promise to him that I intended to keep. Far be it from me to inspire some petty revenge by spiting him here. Not to mention, he was suffering so much at the Academy with Justus as his attendant that I thought allowing him a little hope was for the best.

“How did inquiring about the children of the former Veronica faction go?” I asked.

“It will depend on faction movements and Ahrensbach’s actions at the Archduke Conference. Our current intention is to give them two options: they can wait until they come of age and are able to select a faction themselves, or they can accept magic contracts with more restrictive terms. Do you have any particular thoughts on this? We cannot allow them to sign with no restrictions whatsoever.”

“...If that is what you have all determined to be appropriate, then I shall agree. I am satisfied so long as the children do not have their futures closed off entirely.”

Refusing them flat out was much too sad, but I was completely fine with the enforcement of terms that required them to put in a great deal of work. The children of the former Veronica faction knew more about faction politics than I, so I was sure none of them expected to be embraced outright.

“I will deliver the payments two days from now,” Ferdinand said. “Oh, and that reminds me—Rozemyne, if you wish to summon the Plantin Company to once again sell books at the end of winter, you will need to apply for permission soon.”

Oh, right. We sell books at the end of winter.

I took out my diptych and wrote down that I needed to request permission for the Plantin Company. I would submit it as soon as my meeting was over.

Two days later, it was time to pay those who had gathered information for us in the Royal Academy. The students were lined up with excited expressions, with my retainers among them. Rihyarda, Damuel, and I were sitting opposite them, among those providing the compensation.

As I handed each person their payment, I gave them words of encouragement and conveyed any praise spoken by the higher-ups, much like I had the previous year. “The knight commander was very pleased with your findings,” I said to one student. “The aub’s scholars send their regards,” I told another. Even the archnoble child puffed out his chest upon receiving our commendations, positively beaming at the money he had made himself. It was heartwarming to see the satisfied smile of a job well done.

“Lady Rozemyne, I’ve saved up all the money I need. Now I can buy your mana compression method.”

“Indeed. May we meet again during my lecture.”

Once the payments were complete, the mana compression lecture was scheduled for the next day. We didn’t have much time before the feast celebrating spring. I returned to my room while praising my retainers for their hard work.

“Lady Rozemyne, will you be teaching the fourth step too?” Angelica asked. She already knew the normal method, so this extra stage was all that she cared about. It made sense, considering that this alone had been her motivation to finish her classes.

“I will teach you, Angelica, since you passed your classes in time. But the plan is to only teach the fourth step to my retainers. The others will receive an opportunity to be taught it at a later date, on a separate occasion—after everyone else has learned the standard method,” I explained.

Everyone looked very pleased, but Philine wore the happiest smile of all. She had gathered information just as Hartmut had taught her and even put her all into transcribing works, which had resulted in her earning enough money to afford the method. Her efforts had at last paid off.

“I see you are pleased, Philine.”

“Absolutely. Now I can learn the mana compression method alongside everyone else,” she said, her cheeks flushing a warm pink. She had been born into a laynoble family that was by no means wealthy, and so she had been forced to endure going without ever getting what she wanted since she was born. She knew that her parents wouldn’t have been willing to cover the necessary expenses, so she was overjoyed about having earned enough to cover them herself.

“Things have been especially difficult ever since Mother died and Father had to remarry...” Philine continued. “I am truly glad that you made a book of my mother’s stories, Lady Rozemyne.”

She hadn’t said it outright, but it was very heavily implied that she and her younger brother had suffered greatly due to being the children of a previous wife. Philine considered the stories passed down to her by her mother her most precious memories; she had such a strong attachment to book-making because she wanted to forever preserve them in physical form. My two-year slumber had delayed this process, but she had spent her days writing them all down so that she wouldn’t forget.

“There was an occasion when my stepmother confiscated all of the stories I had written, but Father gave them back to me. He said it was because you had given me the paper, Lady Rozemyne.”

If one treated gifts from the archducal family without respect, it was impossible to say what twists and turns might follow, or what disaster might be brought to one’s family. It was for this reason that Philine’s father had made it clear that nobody was to touch her paper.

“Their treatment of us has been much crueler since the summer, when they had a new child. I am terribly worried about how my little brother has fared while I was away...” Philine said. As my retainer, she could always ask for a room in the castle if she wished, but her little brother hadn’t even been baptized yet, so she didn’t even consider this an option.

“Your little brother surely has the divine protection of the gods as well,” I said.

“...I thank you, Lady Rozemyne.”

The next day, when I was due to teach my mana compression method, Philine didn’t show up to work. An ordonnanz came to inform me that she was ill of health, but in the distant background of the message, I could hear her scream, “Give me back my money!”

“I need to go help her,” I said, immediately moving to stand up.

“Lady Rozemyne.” Hartmut placed a hand on my shoulder to stop me. “There are already many nobles gathered here to learn your method. There is no time to go to Philine.”

“Are you telling me to abandon her then?”

“I am not, and I know that you would never abandon her no matter what I advise. Rather, I am saying that I believe it is best to postpone providing her with assistance. I know well the extent of your compassion, but abandoning a promise with this many archnobles for the sake of a single laynoble is simply not something that can be forgiven.”

My other retainers nodded in agreement. “Who knows what the nobles would say to Philine afterward. They would unquestionably blame her,” Cornelius said.

Damuel concurred. “Your behavior will impact Philine’s reputation as well.”

“Furthermore, they have only taken her money,” Rihyarda noted. “Her life is not in danger.”

“You can teach her the method at a later date, when you teach us the fourth step. For now, I must ask that you please contain your emotions,” Hartmut concluded.

Everyone was in agreement. I wanted to declare that I was going to help her regardless, but I clenched my fists and swallowed down the words.

“Very well,” I conceded. “I will teach the nobles the compression method first.”

My retainers circled me as we moved to the scheduled room, no doubt cautious that I might abruptly run off. By the time we arrived, a great number of nobles were already gathered. I had already taught my compression method to all of the archducal family’s guard knights, except those serving Wilfried, so the majority of the attending nobles were scholars and attendants.

There were many children here learning without their parents, since kids had a better time developing mana and the lecture fees were anything but cheap. There were also many younger people. The primary exceptions to this were Bonifatius and the giebe couples sitting in the front row. I couldn’t help but balk a little when I saw the grandpas who looked even older than mine.

Are they really planning to grow their mana at this point...? I’m scared they’re going to keel over and die as soon as they even attempt to.

“May I pray for a blessing in appreciation of this serendipitous meeting, ordained by the harsh judgment of Ewigeliebe the God of Life?”

The nobles I hadn’t met before came forward to greet me one by one. The situation with Philine had me wracked with anxiety and impatience, but I couldn’t allow that to show on my face, so I returned the greetings with a fake noble smile.

It was then that the oldest man among the grandfathers hobbled forward. He was of such an advanced age that he needed a caretaker to accompany him, and he knelt before me with tears in his eyes. “I am the previous Giebe Leisegang. May I pray for a blessing in appreciation of this serendipitous meeting, ordained by the harsh judgment of Ewigeliebe the God of Life?” he asked.

“You may.”

“Now that I have met you, Lady Rozemyne, I can meet my grave with no regrets.”

Holy cow, talk about a heavy greeting! He’s literally risking his life by being here!

“He was quite pushy with Count Leisegang about coming. As your great-grandfather, he wanted to see you at least once,” Rihyarda whispered to me.

Say what?! This is my great-grandfather?!

The old man weeping tears of joy over getting to see me was apparently Karstedt’s grandfather. Never before had I met one of my great-grandfathers, even in my Urano days. It appeared to be a miracle that this man was even still alive—he was old enough that it looked as though he might drop dead at any moment. He had apparently reached the point where he seldom socialized or even left his estate.

“I am glad to have met you as well, Great-Grandfather. I— WHAT?!”

No sooner had I given him my blessing than he closed his eyes and collapsed with a thump. He was completely motionless; the most I could do was stare down at him in shock.

“...Did I cause this with my blessing?” I asked.

“Fear not, Lady Rozemyne—this happens often. He is fine.”

Um, sorry, but that doesn’t make me feel any better!

This moment of shocked silence quickly turned into a buzz of whispers as my great-grandfather was carried out of the room. I was assured again and again that his life wasn’t in any danger, but it sure didn’t look that way. Attempting to learn my compression method certainly would have pushed him to climb the towering stairway, so I was at least thankful that he hadn’t reached that stage.

That was crazy. I thought my heart was going to stop.

Never before had I witnessed someone abruptly collapse, so it was only then that I truly understood how much I had traumatized others when passing out myself. I couldn’t have been more apologetic.

Eventually, the whispers quelled, and the current Count Leisegang humbly stepped forward. “I am Giebe Leisegang. May I pray for a blessing in appreciation of this serendipitous meeting, ordained by the harsh judgment of Ewigeliebe the God of Life?” he asked.

“You may.”

“I deeply apologize for my grandfather shocking you so. He pleaded to attend this seminar, as he wished to see you at least once before the supreme gods welcome him. I, too, am glad to have finally met you in person, Lady Rozemyne.”

The current Count Leisegang was fairly young—perhaps just a little older than Karstedt. I could feel the ambition burning in his eyes, and I suddenly understood why we previously hadn’t been allowed to meet, despite us being family. This meeting had most likely only been allowed because my guardians had finally decided that Wilfried and I were to be engaged.

“I shall now teach my mana compression method. But first, I ask for the payments to be made and the magic contracts to be signed.” I gestured to the scholars, who were going to be handling the payments, and then to Sylvester, who was managing the country-wide magic contracts. He would be watching carefully as everyone signed their names—both because I couldn’t yet recognize everyone, and to show that this lecture was taking place under the guidance of the archduke.

Once all those participating had paid their fees and signed the contracts, I started teaching the method with Damuel as my assistant. We would only be going up to the third step today, and as expected, showing the actual process made things a lot easier to visualize than just giving vague analogies. Many people found it simpler to compress their mana this way, and everyone there said they had never before seen folded material being stamped down.

“Even knowing the method, the amount of mana you can compress ultimately relies on your mental fortitude,” I explained. “Also, know that your mana density increasing too suddenly due to rapid compression will cause mana sickness. Take care to increase your mana at a leisurely pace that will not interfere with your work.”

Now, anyone who got mana sickness had only themselves to blame.

“To think that even fully grown adults such as ourselves can increase our mana density through artful compression... I am moved,” Giebe Haldenzel said, his enthusiasm clear in his voice. “This is knowledge that one could monopolize for their own benefit, and yet for the sake of the duchy, you are willing to teach it even to competing archduke candidates. I am left speechless at your compassion.”

Following these words, Giebe Haldenzel exited the room. Wilfried and his retainers went to leave shortly after, though I noticed they were all wearing very focused expressions—a clear giveaway that they were compressing their mana even as they walked. I instinctively called out to them.

“What is it, Rozemyne?” Wilfried asked.

“I understand that your guard knights will wish to work especially hard to compress their mana, considering that they have learned it much later than the other archducal family retainers, but it is dangerous for all of you to compress your mana while on duty at the same time.”

Several of the retainers exchanged nervous glances. They had evidently been so focused on compressing their mana that they had forgotten their surroundings entirely.

“The risk of mana sickness aside, you will all want to take care not to let the compression method interfere with your guard duty. Wilfried, perhaps you should adjust your schedule to make it easier for everyone to compress their mana and order them to not compress it while at work.”

“Good point,” Wilfried replied with a nod. He and his knights paused their attempts to compress their mana, and then together they exited the room.

Once they had gone, I dashed over to where Sylvester and Ferdinand were.